1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of heat exchangers, and more particularly to high pressure fluid coolers.
2. Background Discussion
Many types of fluid coolers, having singular stacked tubular subassemblies, are in general use. Included are fluid coolers used in high pressure and low pressure applications, such as in the refrigeration, air conditioning, compressor, and the automotive industries. This invention is applicable to a variable flow, high pressure fluid cooler assembly where primary design criteria include controlling the hydraulic behavior of the fluid cooler by using in a first primary position in a composite stack, a first tubular type, paired plate panel subassembly having interior longitudinal, bilateral tubular fluid flow channels with low internal resistance to flow features; and in a secondary position in the stack, a second tubular type, paired plate panel subassembly with greater resistance to flow and having interior longitudinal, circular fluid flow channels with superior internal heat transfer features, thereby minimizing heat exchanger package size while satisfying predetermined heat exchanger fluid flow capacity and heat transfer demand.
In the past, high pressure fluid coolers of this type have been designed primarily using a single tubular type, paired plate panel subassembly member in the fluid cooler stack wherein when one fluid cooler design parameter is enhanced, that enhancement may be adverse to other fluid cooler design parameter characteristics.
In certain high pressure fluid cooler applications having a single, tubular type, paired plate panel subassembly, wherein the primary design parameter is to effect efficient heat transfer, the high pressure fluid cooler may have increased resistance to fluid flow and thus less control of the hydraulic behavior of the fluid cooler assembly.
In other high pressure fluid cooler applications having one tubular type of paired plate subassembly, heat transfer is enhanced by increasing the heat exchanger effective surface area by adding internal embossments which increase resistance to internal fluid flow, thereby requiring the heat exchanger to be enlarged in size to accommodate the greater fluid flow capacity required to effect the heat dissipation rate required by the heat producing source coolant.
This fluid cooler assembly invention, by bifurcation of tubular fluid flow, balances the various design parameter characteristics for high pressure fluid cooler assemblies by using a novel combination of different tubular type, paired plate panel subassemblies to control the hydraulic behavior of the fluid cooler assembly, optimize heat transfer, and provide a high pressure fluid cooler assembly of minimized package weight and size.
Therefore, this invention provides a dual balance of the attributes of two different tubular types of paired plate panel subassemblies, each different tubular type of subassembly maximizing different ones of the high pressure fluid cooler design criteria to optimize fluid cooler performance characteristics.
Furthermore, the inventor has determined and provided, for specific applications, the correct composite number and combination of the two, herein described, different tubular types of paired plate panel subassemblies and their specific location placement in the stack configuration of the high pressure fluid cooler.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide a composite stacked, high pressure fluid cooler assembly using two different tubular types of paired plate panel subassemblies to provide desired controlled hydraulic behavior of the fluid cooler and to balance various fluid cooler design parameter criteria to produce an efficient, high pressure fluid cooler that requires relatively small installation space while meeting the heat transfer and quantitative fluid flow capacity demand required by a particular heat generating source.